Thirteen
by Black-Mog
Summary: The surprise of the Next Doctor. Basically written because I had fun on photoshop. Basically, imagine Amanda Abbington as the Doctor.
1. Prologue

The orange light faded into a dull glow and the being it had taken over gasped loudly. Breathe found itself regained, hearts returned to normal speed, the tension in the room returned to a somewhat normal level and as the last traces of the glow left the figure before her, Clara's eyes widened. Well. She'd not expected that.

The Doctor looked over at Clara, reading her body language for a moment.

"What? What is it?" Oh. That was surprising. A frown furrowed itself on the Doctor's forehead, eyes looking to Clara for confirmation that this has happened, that it wasn't a dream. For a few, still moments, the Doctor and Clara stared at one another in a state of shock, until the tension within the TARDIS became overwhelming and a little too overdramatic and laughter soon filled the control room.

"I didn't even know you could do that.." Clara spoke after the laughter had ceased and the Doctor began rooting around for the mirror that was definitely here ten minutes ago.

"Yeah.. Neither did I. Or maybe I did.. I don't remember knowing I could do it, but apparently I can.." Clara bounced forward, frowning as she studied The Doctor's face.  
"You know.. I would kill for cheekbones like that.."

"Ah ha.." The Doctor spoke, ignoring Clara's comment as the mirror was recovered from it's hiding place. The reflection staring back at the Doctor was not something that had been expected when regeneration had first began. Silence returned to the TARDIS as the Doctor began to study the new face that was now staring back from the looking glass. Impressive cheekbones, certainly, Clara was right about that. Perfectly groomed eyebrows, well, that was a first. Not the only first for the Doctor, of course. Fingers began to run through the short hair when Clara's voice broke the silence.

"For what it's worth.. You're a very pretty woman.."


	2. Becoming The Doctor

"I don't know what you're moping for. I told you, you look great" Clara sighed, exasperated, as she handed the Doctor a large mug of tea. The Doctor took it gratefully, blowing gently into the boiling hot liquid in an attempt to cool it down. For a moment, she found herself transfixed on the patterns that her breath caused in the brownness, before a frown washed itself over her face and her eyes trailed from the mug to Clara's form. Clara, herself, had slumped in her favourite armchair, and the Doctor watched her as Clara tapped her finger against the mug.  
"That's highly irritating, you know..."  
"What?"  
"Oh god. Sorry. I'm getting irritated now.. Is this what life is like as a woman?"  
"Yeah in a bad 90s television stereotype.." Clara replied with a roll of her eyes. She placed her mug down on the table in front of her and shook her head. "It's not that bad.. Something like this must have happened before.."  
"Not to me.." The Doctor pondered for a moment. "Probably. It's just odd to get used to."

Clara nodded and began to pick at a strand of thread that had caught her attention seconds before. She wondered, fleetingly, what it would be like to suddenly become a man on a day that had started innocently enough with ice cream and the beach in 1912 and concluded that, actually, the Doctor was handling it far better than she ever would.  
"I think we'd best get you a new wardrobe.."  
"Oh, there'll be stuff in the TARDIS. I'm sure some of it will be nice enough. Actually, woman have a better variety, this could be interesting.."  
Thoughts of the numerous different crazy outfits that the Doctor could go ahead and create now filled Clara's mind and she shuddered slightly.  
"Bear in mind that some of us actually have to be seen with you..."  
"I resent that. I've always dressed my best.."  
"Bow ties were not your best"  
"Bow ties are cool. Oh. I wonder if I.."  
"Erm. No. Lets not go there again. It's going to be odd enough getting used to having you as a woman, but one who wears bow ties? No thank you.."  
The Doctor frowned, and picked up the magazine that sat on the table, flicking through the pages.  
"So you'd prefer me in some of this more... Fashionable stuff?" she asked, turning the magazine on it's side and attempting to work out how any of the dresses worn at London fashion week could be worn in the real world. Was this the sort of thing Clara considered to be fashion? The Doctor was certain that bow ties on a woman were at least fifty per cent less ridiculous than the woman wearing a bird on her head. She continues reading the magazine before she felt it tugged from her hands and before she could tighten her grip on it, Clara had placed it back on the coffee table.  
"I was reading th-"  
"That's exaggerated fashion." Clara interrupted, getting to her feet "That's not how people dress. Ordinary people I mean. You're still dressed like a man and after that regeneration, those clothes have seen better days. I think we best go and look in the TARDIS wardrobe because otherwise, we're going to need to go shopping."

She grabbed the Doctor's hand, pulling her to her feet and completely ignoring the groans that had filled the room at the mention of shopping. Perhaps she could get used to this. A female Doctor. It wouldn't be TOO weird, and that air of authority hadn't left the Time Lord. Clara paused at that thought. Was she still considered a Time Lord now that she was female? Time Lady perhaps? The train of thought stayed with her all the way to the TARDIS and she pushed open the door with gusto, flinching internally as it hit the railings and bounced a few times.  
"She hates it when you do that.." came the voice from behind her and Clara shook her head.  
"I know. I'm sorry.." her fingers lightly stroked the wooden door and she said again, to the TARDIS herself this time, "Sorry..."

The Doctor stepped out from behind the changing curtain and Clara's eyes widened slightly.  
"That is lovely... Perfect, seriously." she spoke softly, her eyes trailing up the Doctor's figure. The red colour of the material complimented her skin tone expertly, the shape of the dress making her look more womanly than she had dressed in the clothing from her previous incarnation. The only problem was..  
"if we lived in the 1530's. Don't you have anything a bit... Less... Tudor?"  
The Doctor's face instantly dropped.  
"Do you have any idea how long it took to get into that.. You've rejected every one of these outfits"  
"That's because all of the outfits in here are AT LEAST 50 years old. You need something modern. Something that's comfortable and, frankly, something that's easy to run in.."  
"I suppose you have a point.." The Doctor muttered, under her breath as her eyes trailed over the 'rejected' pile which featured rather fashionable pieces from Roman, Ancient Greek, Georgian and soon to be Tudor eras, as well as something resembling a potato sack that the doctor had insisted would have been the height of fashion in the 13th century. Clara rose from her seat and moved around the wardrobe. The room was huge, as most rooms in the TARDIS were, and featured many different styles of outfits from so many different eras, no doubt from back in the days where the Doctor at least _tried_ to fit in. Recently, the Time Lord had become a one outfit for all occasions kind of being but had somehow managed to pull it off. No doubt something to do with the air of confidence that always followed him. Well now, he was gone and as his new appearance was in the form of the fairer, and frankly oppressed, sex, she'd certainly have to attempt to fit in once more. At least, fashionably. During her trail of thought, Clara had wandered into a part of the wardrobe she'd not been in before. It wasn't as organised as the rest, half of the clothes weren't on hangers and there were far too many hat boxes to be considered normal. It didn't take her long to realise that this was the part where the Doctor's former companions belongings ended up once they'd, for whatever reason, left the TARDIS. She'd often wonder what became of them, the ones she'd seen in the Doctor's timeline, the ones who'd left mid-adventure like Rose and Amy, or the ones like Donna who didn't get to gather their things. She no longer wondered, and now, the pile of clothes before her may be a blessing for the Time Lord who hated shopping.

"Make up? Really?" the Doctor wrinkled her nose as Clara mumbled instructions to her as she gently coated the Doctor's lashes in thick black liquid that the Doctor didn't entirely approve of. Clara smirked softly, placing a hand beneath the Doctor's chin in an attempt to keep her still, an act that was proving to be a little bit difficult. In honesty, the Doctor had been beautiful without make up, but the thought of doing someone else's face was always a fun one, and this was really more for her own amusement than the Doctor's. Once she was done, Clara stepped back and smiled softly.  
"There you go. Looking more human than ever."

The Doctor rose from her seat and moved towards the full length mirror that stood in the corner of the room. She'd not really seen herself since the initial _'Oh My Goodness, I'm Female'_ moment that she'd hopefully forget in time, but now she found herself pleasantly surprised. They'd settled on a pair of black trousers, simple and pretty comfortable, plus they never really looked out of place, and a green smock type top that came down to the Doctor's mid thigh and was slightly elasticated at the waist. She finished it off with a necklace, upon which hung a large flower pendant. That was going to be her 'thing' in this incarnation, she had decided, large necklaces. Clara would have to deal with it.

As she drew closer to the mirror, she began to study her new face properly. Those cheekbones were still working for her, even more so now that Clara had done whatever she'd done with that ridiculous tickley brush. She'd not paid much attention to her eyes last time and now that she was looking at them, she couldn't work out why. Beautiful blue eyes stared back at her and she mentally noted that, of all her precious forms, only her tenth had had brown eyes. She frowned slightly, watching the way her face looked as she pulled the simple expression, and followed this by giving herself a quick smile and briefly registered the way it lit up her face in a way that none of her other incarnations had. Her attention was next on her hair, which wasn't really too much different to her last hair really. It was short, not as short, but nothing that she'd consider long. Just right for her face, actually, and lovely and soft. Blonde now, too. She'd not been blonde in an age. Still not ginger, though, so that was disappointing.

Yes, she decided after a few moments, she could get used to this new form.

"Right then.." she beamed, grabbing a red coat from the stand by the mirror and spinning around to face Clara. Quickly, she bounded across to the other side of the room, grabbing a scarf and a pair of gloves from various positions on the shelf and, after making sure that the gloves actually matched and she wasn't about to leave the wardrobe with one deep purple glove and one dark blue one, she moved towards the door. Clara watched, amused and glad to see the energy she had known and loved as the Doctor come back in spades. Yes, perhaps this would be quite easy to get used to after all.  
"Where are you going?" Clara asked, moving swiftly behind the over excited Time Lord.  
"To the control room. I think it's time we went on another adventure, don't you?"


	3. Jacowitz

The second sun was setting slowly over the horizon, giving the entire sky a lilac tint. It would be another hour, at least, until the sun disappeared completely beyond the horizon but that didn't prevent the first of the four moons from appearing in the sky, eclipsing the setting sun for a few minutes as it began to rise into the sky. The first moon had the fastest orbit of the four, successfully completing four and a half orbits per day, the others were much slower, their orbits ranging from one every six days, to one every six months. It wasn't an unusual sight for anyone who lived on Jacowitz.

Two figures stood in the growing darkness, not speaking, armed with spears. Around their necks hung a silver chain, an eye shaped pendant hanging from it, gleaming green in the setting sunlight. Behind them stood a large silver structure, much like an old fashioned Earth Lamppost, complete with a white glow at the top. Unlike an old fashioned earth lamppost, this glow wasn't caused by gas or electricity but rather a type of stone often found deep in the planet's crust, polished to a point and hooked up to the large metal lamppost-like structure using a series of complex looking wire systems.

As the sun drifted further towards the horizon, until only half of it was visible against the mountains, the younger of the two figures turned to his partner and raised an eyebrow.  
"Is it your weekend off this weekend?" He asked, though no noise filled the air.  
"Yes, we're taking a trip to the Northern Mountains.." His partner responded, telepathically. Within a few moments, the pair found themselves deep in discussion about their weekend plans, oblivious to the low-pitched hum that the large, glowing stone had begun to emit. After a few minutes, the stone's colour changed from white to a deep red, and the two guards found themselves on the floor both gripping their head in an attempt to stop the pain.

The TARDIS floated gently around the star Pushlinsus, the doors wide open. The Doctor leaned against the doorframe, watching the star for a few moments before a light chiming occurred at the TARDIS control panel.  
"Ah.." she said softly, bouncing towards the controls and pushing a few buttons before pulling a lever. Clara watched, amused by how quickly the Doctor had become comfortable in her new body. Already, Clara was seeing traces of the old Doctors in this new incarnation, but there was something else there, something new that she couldn't quite put her finger on. As her thoughts quietened somewhat, she became overly aware that the Doctor was searching for something in the ridiculously bottomless drawer beneath the TARDIS console.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I was opening the engines.. That star is about to become the brightest supernova in a millennia and the TARDIS could do with refuelling-aha!" she pulled out two pairs of dark glasses, and handed one to Clara.  
"Put these on.. And come watch the Supernova.. You really should see one in your lifetime. Most won't get to..." she grinned, slipping on her own glasses and bounding towards the open TARDIS door.  
Clara watched for a few moments before slipping on her own glasses and joining the Doctor at the door. She loved having the TARDIS doors open in space. Proper space, not the Time Vortex. It was chilly, granted, but beautiful.  
"This always makes me feel small..." she muttered, casually, to no one in general.  
"You are small.. Really rather short.."  
Clara glared at the Doctor for a moment before shaking her head. "You know what I mean. Just us and.. Endless space. It's enough to make anyone feel small... Even someone with your ego..."

The Doctor opened her mouth to respond, but allowed it to fall closed once more without a response. She could see Clara's point and felt exactly the same, in reality. Not that she'd admit that, however. They remained silent as the star before them exploded suddenly, filling space with the brightest light.  
Even behind the dark glasses, specially designed to allow the wearer to view a supernova without retinal damage, Clara found herself squeezing her eyes shut against the brightness of the light. She turned her back to the door and opened them again, blinking a few times in an attempt to rid her sight of the strange dots that now danced before her vision. When her sight was clear once more, she realised that the Doctor was no longer standing beside her, but now hovered over the console, staring at a leather bound piece of paper that Clara hadn't seen before.

"What's that?" she asked, stepping towards the console and jumping slightly as the TARDIS doors slammed themselves behind her.  
"Psychic paper... I've not used it in a while.. Forgot about it, in truth, but now it seems to be being used once more..." The Doctor stared at the paper before her, tilting her head. She recognised the co-ordinates that had appeared upon the paper, knew them like the back of her hand.  
She'd visited this planet many many times, but it had been a long while and she wasn't sure she'd be all that welcome. Still, Jacowitz called for help and she'd be damned if she ignored this one.

"What's happening?" Clara asked, attempting to peer over the Doctor's shoulder but the psychic paper was already being shoved into the Doctor's pocket and co-ordinates punched into the console.  
"We're going to visit an old friend of mine.. An old old friend.." She sighed softly, before looking at Clara.  
"You might want to hold on to something, Clara.. It's often a bit bump when the TARDIS attempts to get through the psychic layer"  
"Psychic layer?"  
"Oh. Yes. You've never been here. Jacowitz uses a psychic layer to protect itself from attack. It's not the most effective defence but they're a peaceful planet and rarely need much more. Except when the Sontarans attempt to attack. Which they do a lot. Every 5,000 years, like clockwork, in fact. But it does get bumpy.. So hold on.."  
"So do you think it's the Sontarans this time?" Clara asked as she gripped on to the railing just as the time rotor gave a loud groan and the whole room shook violently. The Doctor gripped hold of the console, and hit a random part of the console with the small hammer she kept for such an occasion.  
"Ok.. That's weird.." she groaned as the TARDIS made a jerk as though it was hit from the side.  
"What's weird?" Clara shouted over the exceptionally loud noise the time rotor was now making. The console was rattling around in a way that wasn't entirely normal, though Clara couldn't help but think that she wasn't sure what was entirely normal any more.  
"Something is spatially disrupting the TARDIS's transference. Wait, no, it's... I don't know, an encumbrance."  
Clara shook her head, loosing her balance just slightly as the TARDIS jerked again. "What?"  
"Let's just say not normal and leave it at that." The Doctor threw a lever, almost climbing across the console to reach it, and the TARDIS made a crunching noise. Suddenly, the time rotor groaned and the TARDIS made a sound as though she had hit something very hard and Clara found herself in a heap on the floor. The Doctor peeled herself from the console and moved towards Clara, offering her a hand.  
"Well, that was a bit of a rough landing. We can probably rule Sontarans out for that sort of mess up. Nasty things they are, especially if you're a Rutan, but that's not their sort of thing."  
"So what is it?"  
"No idea.."

The Doctor moved towards the door and pulled it open, a slow grin creeping across her face as her eyes scanned the figure on the other side. Ariella, queen of the Nyklus, the race that inhabited Jacowitz, looked at the Doctor with wide eyes.  
"You've changed.." she let out a soft laugh, before stepping closer to the Doctor, examining the new face. "You've changed a lot.."  
"You're speaking. Aloud."  
"I assumed you'd brought a human.. Who is it this time? Donna? Amy? Or do you have a new one?"  
"Clara..." The Doctor said softly, before repeating Clara's name more firmly in an attempt to call her human companion from the TARDIS. Clara stepped out of the blue box and held out a hand to the Queen, only to find herself pulled into a hug.

"Well... Down to business then.." The Doctor smiled, stepping out of the TARDIS properly once everyone had become a little more acquainted. "I assume this isn't the Sontarans?"  
Ariella shook her head. "I don't think so. If it is then they are using technology that's not their own. Cloning, yes, teleports, absolutely, but this is something that's been building over the past few days, and it's... we'll there's something off with the telepathy. And plus they'd be about three thousand years too early."  
"Off?" Clara questioned, an eyebrow raised as she looked between the two other women.  
"Yes, off. I do not know any better way to describe it. Sometimes, in order to communicate, we've had to think harder than usual. And that was the beginning. My head, and my people's heads, have been muddled and fuzzy. There is something wrong. I can sense it and they all cry out in my head asking for my help. I have tried all I can think of. And then, upon occasion, there's horrendous pain.."  
"Yikes.." Clara raised both eyebrows. And just then, as if the accentuate what she was saying both she and the Doctor cried out and grasped their heads. Clara took a step back, wide eyed, but it soon passed.  
"Like that"  
"But" the Doctor shook her head "this sort of technology should be impossible!"  
"Well it's obviously not.." Clara rolled her eyes. The Doctor shot her a look.  
"But it should be. Come on. We're going back to the TARDIS.." she said, grabbing the hands of the two other women and almost dragging them towards the little blue box.

"This sort of thing was just supposed to be theoretical... No one's managed to ever build a telepathic inhibitor before, but if I was going to make one I can think of the perfect testing ground and we're standing on it." The Doctor muttered as she pulled open the doors, stepping inside and rushing towards the console, pressing buttons.

Clara realised at this point that her mouth was hanging open like a fish and closed it. "Well what's it going to do?"  
"It attacks everything with telepathic capabilities..." The Doctor explained, punching things onto the monitor.  
"Yeah, but... this is Jacowitz, doesn't everyone have telepathic capabilities."  
Ariella looked very alarmed with the Doctor's prognosis.  
"Yes!" she said, "it's how we communicate, it's how we live!"  
"And you've got telepathic capabilities," Clara said to the Doctor. She nodded and made a bit of a face.  
"And so has the TARDIS..." she nodded again.  
"So... am I the only person on this planet that hasn't?"  
"'Fraid so."  
"Right, well... that's comforting."  
"It'll be okay, we just have to work fast, figure this out before the signal gets strong enough to cancel out everyone's brains."  
"Cancel out brains!?"  
"Well," she waved a hand, "something like that. But that's not going to happen."

Clara frowned. She really didn't like the sound of everyone's brains being cancelled out and she imagined that Ariella liked it even less, considering the ways she was now wringing her hands and getting that determined expression on her face. The Doctor typed a few things into the monitor and, flipped a few switches and grinned for a minute and then everything went dead. Everything.  
"What?" The Doctor said, attempting to hide the slight alarm from her voice.  
Ariella and Clara exchanged glances.  
"What?!" the Doctor said again yanking a lever several times, but nothing seemed to come back online.  
"Has something happened to the TARDIS?" Ariella asked, but the Doctor didn't even seem to hear her.  
"What?!"  
The TARDIS did not turn back on.


	4. Telepathic Inhibitor

Clara's fingers tapped impatiently against the railing from her position by the door as she watched the Doctor. The blonde had several different wires in her mouth and Clara wasn't entirely sure that it was safe for her to do that, but she remained quiet. Over the past few minutes, the tension in the room had risen as the Doctor tried a number of different things in an attempt to get the TARDIS back on, but the little blue box refused to turn back on. She began flicking switches, turning knobs and even, at one point, kicked the control panel with a loud groan and still the TARDIS did not turn back on. Slowly, the Doctor began to realise that there was nothing, for the time being, that she could do about it. Still, this was no time to be depressed or defeatist about it. After all, they were on one of the Doctor's favourite planets, a planet that had all sorts of technology that she could probably adapt to help fix the TARDIS, but before then, she had a bigger problem to fix. A bigger problem that was probably the reason the TARDIS was acting up anyway.

Ariella returned to the TARDIS carrying a small tray of juice, handing a glass to both of the other women before placing the tray down on the jump seat. Clara silently sipped at the juice, a tropical mix of different Jacowitzian fruits that tasted not dissimilar to tropical juice on Earth, but slightly sweeter, she analysed. The Doctor drained her glass, placed the empty glass back on the tray before clapping her hands together.

"Okay.." she said, breaking the silence of the room, before running her hands over the console in a consolatory gesture. She wasn't pleased about the TARDIS going out, of course, but there was nothing to be done right now.  
"So" she continued "this sort of technology would take enormous amounts of power, and so far as I can tell it's got to be short range, meaning, either a) here on the planet or b) on some sort of ship or mobile space station. So.."  
"We need to find whatever it is and stop it before all my people are incapacitated," Ariella finished looking very determined.  
"Right, yes! Which means I've got to make a modular inter-flux detector!" The Doctor said and then, without any further ado, grabbed a torch and disappeared into the bowels of the TARDIS without another word.

Clara rolled her eyes slightly and let out a gentle laugh.  
"Good to see she's not changed much.. You know.. Despite the massive change.."  
"Yes.." The Queen mused, momentarily, before letting out a heavy sigh. "I apologise that your first visit to my planet is in a time of trouble. I, of course, would not be adverse to you both paying a visit in a time of peace, I just…" she trailed off sighing a bit, "I use the psychic paper only when necessary. I do not wish to be a burden."  
Clara smiled softly, shaking her head. "I saw the Doctor when your message came through. She was slightly worried, you know, following the regeneration and everything.. But there was delight in her eyes, and in her voice when she told me where we were going. I don't think you could ever be a burden to the Doctor.."

Clara and Ariella smiled warmly at one another for a few moments before Clara spoke once more  
"Besides that... The Doctor loves coming to save you. You know he does, really. Right? She lives on this stuff!"  
Ariella smiled, but looked down, and Clara continued.  
He.. She goes looking for trouble, Ariella. Honestly.. It follows us everywhere.." she laughed for a moment, before frowning "I remember the time she decided she was taking me to see a 5D movie on Boroxan and when we got there, she practically talked a strange looking fellow into banning us from the movie house. They had the best popcorn in the universe too; I swear it was sort of caramel and… something else."  
"Toffee!" the Doctor said re-emerging from the corridor with a bunch of stuff in her hands, "And sort of a butter rum… fantastic stuff that is, we'll have to go back sometime."  
"We can't!" Clara pointed out, "You told that strange looking man that he was a rubbish projectionist because the colour was off by point eight something or other."  
"Well, it was!"  
Ariella broke into a smile and shook her head, "Doctor, only you could be bickering over a cinema when someone is playing with a telepathic inhibitor over my planet."  
"Ah. Yes. Sorry.. Very sorry.." The Doctor replied, looking sheepish and Clara felt her stomach drop with guilt and she mumbled a quick apology. After a moment, the Doctor spoke again.  
"Well, if you could just hold that, Ariella, and Clara, this," she handed out little bits of machinery for the two other women to hold and began constructing something that looked like a small television set with detachable aerial and some very strange looking controls. She worked silently, and with her tongue practically touching her nose, for about ten minutes and then grinned like a maniac and proclaimed  
"Done-a-roo!" The Doctor paused, shaking her head. "Oh god. That was awful. I promise never to say THAT again."  
"Should hope not.." Clara rolled her eyes but the Doctor ignored her and moved back towards the TARDIS console, giving it a gentle stroke and mumbling a promise to be back soon, before heading to the door, this small TV device under her arm.

Together, the trio moved out of the TARDIS and into the main hall of Ariella's palace. The Doctor had a habit of crash landing in different rooms of Ariella's palace whenever she visited, and Ariella was always waiting on the other side of the doors when they were opened, drawn to the TARDIS landing site by her telepathic connection to the box. The Doctor didn't stop once they were in the main hall, however, and her friends followed her out into the vast gardens. Once they reached the most open part of the garden, the Doctor dropped to her knees and placed the TV on the grass, aimed the aerial at the sky and began to tune the device. Roughly three point five seconds later, the three were thrown backwards onto the grass as a massive ship visible above the shimmering psychic layer, chrome and polished and the Doctor muttered something under her breath about the designer taking tips from 1950's Earth cinema.

"What-" Ari began to speak but as the trio watched, to everyone's horror, the ship opened up and a smaller, more compact, pod emerged from it. Flying at speedy the pod paused for a moment over the psychic layer before both Ariella and the Doctor grabbed their heads in pain as it ripped easily through the only defence mechanism the peaceful planet usually needed, and into the Jacowitzian atmosphere. By the time Ariella and the Doctor had recovered sufficiently, the pod had landed fifty metres away from where they were stood. A moment later the doors opened and out stepped some very colourful, and very frightening figures.


	5. The Antalusians

The aliens that stepped from the pod looked like gigantic upright crocodiles, with long, thick tails sweeping behind them heavily. On their feet were, what looked like, Dutch clogs, painted bright colours but made of a synthetic material as opposed to wood. The style of shoe made sure that they had to shuffle rather than walking properly and on their heads they appeared to be wearing some sort of headdress that resembled an afro. Clara looked at the Doctor's perplexed face and attempted to prevent herself from laughing at their appearance by reminding herself that these creatures were sporting some killer jowls and tails that looked like they could break her neck if swung properly.

Within a moment of reaching the trio, the largest and most colourful crocodile alien opened his mouth and began to speak in a high clipped accent that resembled Tony Blair as opposed to the gruff growling that one might expect from such creatures. For a few moments, Clara stared at the aliens.

"Um, hello, yes. Uh, my friend here only speaks English, I don't suppose-" the Doctor started, scratching at the back of her head.

"Of course, Doctor," the leader of the Crocodiles said and then nodded politely in Clara's direction. Clara and the Doctor both frowned, attempting to work out how the strange aliens knew the Doctor.  
The Doctor's eyebrows drew together in a confused expression, and her moth began to form words that never made it into speech until finally, she said; "What?"

"Ah, I see," said the leader of the Crocodiles, taking another step forward and the Doctor, unconsciously, stood in front of Ariella and Clara.  
"You do not remember us, it's not a surprise, but we know you. You travel from planet to planet, meddling in the affairs of others. It was through these meddlings that we became aware of you indirectly, and how you caused the horrible deaths of thousands of our kind."  
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor, Clara and Ariella all spoke at the same time, the same thoughts echoing in their mind.  
"The Antalusians, us of course, had a very close working relationship with the Sisters of Plentitude, perhaps them you recall."  
"Ah," was all the Doctor said. Clara looked towards the Time Lord in confusion and the Doctor quickly explained the happenings of New New Earth.  
"They were good workers," the Antalusian Leader continued, seemingly irritated by the interruption "They were willing to do work that would only sully our hands, but they did not have the technology they required. We developed this. The greater part of our economy was in conjunction with the experiments and progress that the Sisters created. For years and years all was well, people were cured, healed, treated, we understood that there were several malfunctions with the Flesh, as the Sisterhood began calling them. Their brainstems began to function quite on their own, but things like these are necessary. Sacrifices must be made in order to progress the universe. From our research it would seem that you should understand this, Doctor, you who have killed thousands."  
"Hold on!" Clara growled, moving to step forward but the Doctor put a hand on her elbow, attempting to quieten her. Clara sighed, but her eyes fixed on the aliens, narrowing.  
"The Sisterhood was killing thousands of innocent people, that is not right, even if it's saving others. I will never apologise for that." The Doctor stood her ground. She may not have the height she once had, or the masculine air, but she didn't need it to be intimidating.

The Antalusian Leader began to get angry, his scales turning a dark green, "Because of your meddlesome actions, Doctor, thousands of Antalusians have perished. The Sisters incarcerated, the Flesh catalogued and sent free to roam New Earth."  
"I'm sorry," Ariella said, speaking up for the first time in awhile, "New Earth?"  
The Doctor looked at her confused. The Nyklus were among the higher beings of the universe and thus were rather informed about most systems in the universe. The Doctor opened her mouth to speak but then closed it,  
"Oh," she said, "Hold on, New Earth doesn't exist in this time, not as New Earth and the sisters wont come into existence for about a million years."  
"Yes, we have followed you," the Antalusian Leader explained, "through time and space."  
The Doctor frowned, searching her mind, "Antalusia, Antalusia… This would be a lot easier if I hadn't just regenerated, you know.. Antalusia.. you don't have that sort of technology. You can't travel in time and while you're pretty impressive on the technical end I can't help but think that a telepathic inhibitor is beyond you too."  
"Nothing is beyond us," the Antalusian Leader snarled, "but you are correct, this technology is not ours. We have a benefactor."  
"A what?"  
"That is unimportant. Now, Doctor, you will come with us."  
"Um, well, thank you for the kindly invitation but I'll pass."  
"It is not a choice. You will come with us or we will activate the telepathic inhibitor. You and every living thing on this planet will suffer from an onslaught of every negative thought, every sorrow, every bad experience that you've ever suffered. For the Nyklus and their extensive lives that should be quite a few, and for you Doctor, after doing our research that should be a particular punishment."

The Doctor's face flushed white, but she stood firm. "I can help, your economy can be restored-"  
"It's too late for that now. If we let you go now, with an empty promise to help us, then we will lose you forever. We can not risk that."  
"But wait!" Ariella chimed in, "If you've done research on the Doctor than you'll know that he helps people! That's what he does!"  
"We can not be certain of anything," the Antalusian Leader looked rather resolute.

Clara frowned, chewing on her lower lip. The Doctor's hand was still resting on her elbow, but she gently shrugged it off. The Doctor didn't notice. She knew the Doctor. She knew she saved people. She knew she loved the Nyklus and wouldn't purposely cause them any pain. She would go with them and subject herself to whatever they had planned for her. Clara couldn't let that happen.  
"If I can't save the world, I can save the Doctor" Clara said quietly to herself before stepping forward.  
"Take me" she said, ignoring the Doctor's protests. "She can help. She'll find what you need, she can do anything. I'm just a human being, but she'll come back for me. She won't just leave me."  
"Clara!" The Doctor exclaimed, a horrified expression crossing her face.  
"Don't.. You know this is the best option.." Clara hissed under her breath as she stepped closer to the Crocodiles.  
"You can fix this. That's what you do. There's nothing I could do if they took you. This is best option."

The Doctor took a hold of Clara's wrist, circling it with her thumb and forefinger. "I'm not letting you do this."

The Antalusian Leader looked Clara up and down, thinking seriously. Clara looked back at him, studying him. If they'd done their research the way they said, they may not know of her. But they might know about Amy and Rory or Donna or Martha. Rose or Sarah Jane. Romana. Or any of the other companions that the Doctor had taken through time and space. If he'd done his research like he said, he would know that the Doctor wouldn't leave her companion behind. And if he hadn't done his research as well as he seemed to think then the Doctor's current display might convince him of the same.

Clara looked the lizard in the eye, and she could tell that he believed her.  
"It's already done" he snarled, taking a thick band and strapping it around Clara's free wrist. Before she, or the Doctor, could protest, Clara began to disappear before their eyes.


	6. Onboard The Ship

Clara stared at the metal wall before her, mentally cursing herself. She didn't feel the panic she'd expected, but that didn't mean she wasn't terrified. From the outside, the ship looked like something straight out of a movie they would have shown on a Bank Holiday Monday, and from the inside it looked no different. Everything was chrome and smooth and as though there were no seams, like the whole thing had been made out of one smooth piece of metal.

Clara had expected to teleport directly into some sort of holding cell with a big burly looking crocodile thing guarding her, and was a bit surprise to see that it wasn't the case. She was in some sort of hallway, that seemed to lead endlessly in both directions. Clara rose to her feet. She wasn't sure which way to go but she knew that she had to pick a direction. Clara wasn't naive enough to think that they had just given her free range of their ship, and she wasn't sure how this was meant to work, so she started walking in one direction, figuring that it had to lead somewhere.

The first place that she reached seemed to be some sort of canteen and she let out a soft laugh. She wasn't sure why, but she wasn't expecting to find a canteen on this spaceship. Obviously the Crocodile things had to eat, but with their giant jaws and claws, she'd just sort of assumed they'd be more savage.

Her eyes scanned the food available, the synthetic space vegetables and fruits. Plus the little pudding pellets that the Doctor had always said were pointless because what was the use of pudding if you were ingesting quickly? Clara glanced around and, seeing nobody, took a handful of pudding capsules and shoved them into her pocket, in case she couldn't find anything to eat later, before continuing on her exploration.

After a long while of smooth hallways, Clara came across a set of doors. Seeing no indication of how to open them, she pushed against them, hoping for something. The doors swung open with a creek, and Clara gasped as she was overwhelmed with a stench she'd never smelt before, something that smelt like rotting flesh and excitement and sour milk all at the same time. She gagged, covering up her face and mouth immediately to prevent herself from vomiting, and as disgusting as it was, she had to see what it was that could have made that sort of smell.

Inside, there were more people than she could have imagined would fit into the space. They were piled in sections, and Clara stared, wondering if they were even alive. Others were laid out in rows, asleep but clearly breathing. There was rotting food placed to one side of the room, waste in the other and Clara retched. She'd never seen anything so disgusting in her entire life and she found she could hardly move for shock.

"Clara Oswald.." came a voice from behind her and she spun around. The Antalusian Leader stood before her, looking much bigger inside the ship than he had done back on the planet.  
"What is this?!" she said, in a bit of a shakey voice, "Why are all these people just stuffed in here? Why isn't it clean? What's going on!" Clara frowned, realising that the volume of her voice was slowly rising so that by the time she finished her sentence, she was full on yelling.  
"They are being incubated, we are waiting for them to reach the right age."  
"Right age for what?!"  
"For slavery of course, we do not get a good price for the children. Once they are eighteen. That is the right age, until then, they wait."  
Clara was shocked, and her voice showed this as she continued to argue, unable to hold back her anger. "Slaves? What's the point?! Why?"  
"Our economy was destroyed, we must continue the Antalusian way."  
"And what is that? Killing? You've no other way to boost your bloody economy? You have to use humans as test subjects and slaves?"  
"You are an inferior species. A young species. We have been around for billions of years beyond the Human Empire. You are arrogant. You are small. And you are predictable. Even you, Miss Oswald, have done exactly as you were thought to do. You brought yourself here of your own free will."  
Clara swallowed, "What's that meant to mean?"  
"As I said, we have done our research." And with that he lumbered away, gigantic tale swinging and left. Leaving the door wide open. Clara had expected him to lock it. Not quite knowing what else to do she started following but as soon as she reached the door, Clara was thrown backwards by some sort of invisible force and skidded on the floor, the wind knocked out of her for a moment.

"It's the bracelets," a voice said and she followed it to an attractive young man who was huddled among the other, mostly unconscious, would-be slaves.  
"Hi," he spoke, a gentle blush creeping into his cheeks, "I'm Nikitarunatar, people call me Kit."  
Clara smiled, despite the situation. She studied Kit for a few moments, taking in his appearance. He was young. About 17 years old, tall and strong looking with blondish dirty hair and chiseled features.  
"Hi, Kit," Clara spoke after a moment, "I'm Clara. What do you mean it's the bracelets?" she asked, examining the teleporter that was still strapped to her wrist.  
"They keep us in. Once a boy, Jules, got his off, broke his hand in the process, and ran through the doors. He lasted three days before he was brought back. There's nowhere to run."  
Clara thought for a moment. They clearly had pods and teleport technology. There was a way off this ship, Clara just had to find it. But, she didn't fancy breaking her hand in five places to find it. She looked around the room and sighed.  
"How long have you been here, Kit?"  
He shook his head, surprised at her question and then laughed a bit before he realised that she was serious. "But," he paused, confused, "I was born here."  
Clara gaped. "What?"  
"We all were."

She looked around again. There were probably hundreds of people crammed in here. Unsanitary and reeking. She couldn't imagine it, and she wondered if she had just sold herself into slavery. Gently, Clara began to ask him about their lives onboard the ship and he told her all he could remember, about how their parents had been taken away before they could remember and how they'd been raised by a droidbot, how that they didn't know where they were from besides here, but that they'd been told they were humans who originated on the planet Earth. In return, Clara told him about Earth and he was rapt with attention. He told her how they were put into a kind of sleep for all the hours of the day besides three, when they ate and fraternised, which he seemed surprised was encouraged. Clara wasn't surprised. She knew why the Antalusians would want them to fraternise. Clearly, so that they could make more slaves, the next generation of slaves. It made her feel a bit sick. Clara asked him why it was that he wasn't sleeping and he told her it was because he didn't drink the tea, he'd tried to convince more of them not to drink it, but they'd said it was better to sleep. She made a mental point not to drink any tea.

It was only then that something caught Clara's eye above them. A vent. It didn't make sense to her that it would be there and no one would try to ever use it to escape. She pointed upwards,  
"Ever try that?" she asked, but Kit was looking her up and down in a way that she wasn't entirely sure about. "Kit?"  
He reached out and touched her side, running his hand over her stomach in quite a seductive way. Clara started, "Kit, what are you doing?"  
"Have you already got a copulation partner?" he asked sort of confused.  
Her mouth dropped open, "Uh, no. Yes? Which would stop you from looking at me like that?" she asked. Yeah, he was attractive, definitely the sort she would go for in, say, normal circumstances, but that didn't mean she was interested in him in any sort of romantic way. "Let's go with yes?"  
"I understand, what was it you were referring to earlier?"  
She was a bit taken aback by his rapid change of subject, and shook her head,  
"Oh, we've got to get you socialised," she laughed and then pointed at the vent once more. "Has anyone ever tried climbing through there?"  
He looked at it like he'd never seen it before. "No. What is it?"  
"It-" Clara broke off. The poor boy knew nothing and she supposed that 'copulation partner' should have been her first clue. She explained to him about climbing through vents and then, before she could ask him if he understood, she was being lifted into his shoulder. Clara's fingers hastily moved the grating of the vent and, with Kit's help, she pulled herself inside, before pulling him up behind her. It was roomy enough for humans, but an Antalusian wouldn't ever make it through the tight space. Clara wasn't sure where it was that they were heading but anything was better than the room they had just come from. They moved along the vent for fifteen minutes, until the vent came out into a viewing area at the bridge of the Antalusian craft.


	7. Trouble

The ventilation shaft, not used to having humans crawling within it, couldn't take the weight and began to buckle. Clara felt it and groaned quietly, looking down through the vent at the large group of Antalusians beneath. This was bad timing. She didn't quite fancy ending up in a heap in the centre of that crowd so she quickly gestured to Kit to go back. He looked at her curiously and Clara had to try very hard not to roll her eyes at him.  
"Go backward, there's too much weight here, this thing's not gonna hold, it'll break and we'll fall."  
"And falling is bad, yes?"  
Clara nodded. "Yes."

Her explanation was cut short as Kit started backing up and suddenly the whole metal structure around them splintered and collapsed, sending them sprawling to the room down below. Clara didn't move immediately, not because she was hurt but because she was award that she would soon be surrounded by a great many large lizard like creatures who'd be snapping their jaws at her for not being where she was meant to be. She wasn't even entirely sure what it was that she was doing on this ship so she didn't even know if they would or would not kill her. Instead, she remained still, sure, in the back of her mind, that this was her playing possum.

But that couldn't really last for long and she knew that and opened her eyes. The Antalusian Leader already had Kit's arm grasped in his meaty paw and the sight caused Clara to sit straight up.  
"Let him go. It wasn't his idea." she watched for a second, unsure why she'd spoken as she was pretty sure that the Antalusian Leader wouldn't care whose idea it had been.  
"It seems that you are a feisty one, Miss Oswald," he said to Clara, his eyes narrowing as he looked over her. "I suppose that we should not be surprised. Our sources tell us that the Doctor's companions are often feisty."  
Clara pulled herself to her feet and stood to her full height, which was barely half of the Lizard's, and out her hands on her hips.  
"Well, I'm here. I've been stuck in your prison, I've seen what you're doing. I think its sick, which you know, and I am fully convinced that this has nothing to do with your economy in the slightest degree; I think it's all about revenge. All because the Doctor foiled your little plan back on New Earth. Well, I'm the one who's here so you might as well just take your revenge out on me and leave the Doctor and Jacowitz alone. And while we're on the subject why Jacowitz at all?!" she sucked in a breath, realising that she'd gone on quite a bit. The Antalusian Leader looked her up and down and then began to chuckle, a deep belly laugh that shook his own body. He let go of Kit's arm and he moved quickly over to Clara, standing in front of her in a very gentlemanly manor, though she thought it was just as likely to get him killed as anything else.  
"You amuse me, girl," the Antalusian Leader said, "perhaps when all is said and done I shall make sure that you find a place in my household. I could use an amusing slave such as yourself." The amount of unworry Clara had to that remark should have frightened her but it didn't, because the leader was on the move now. He went over to a strange and intricate looking machine, large buttons, perfect for his large hands, and wires that I could tell would have been exposed, were covered in a thin glass. It was shiny and new and she wondered very briefly what it was before her question was answered for her.

"You have many questions, Miss Oswald, this is not a surprise. But this is not a film from your planet. I am neither villain nor hero, and I feel no need to relay my entire plan for you. You insist upon misbehaving, do you want your friends to suffer for it?" And then he pushed a button on the machine and Clara realised that this was the telepathic inhibitor. It was sending waves through everyone and everything that had telepathic abilities right now and they were in pain.  
"No!" she shouted, "Stop it!"  
He flipped the switch again. A frown washed over Clara's features and her heart began to race. Obviously she didn't want everyone on Jacowitz to be in pain, especially not Ariella or the Doctor, but the Antalusian's demonstration had just helped her enormously. She edged her way closer to Kit so that they could converse quietly and then explained her plan. This whole time the Leader had been focusing all his attentions on Clara and Kit was seemly just some sort of extra piece that had happened to have come along but if travelling with the Doctor had taught her anything, it was to never underestimate the abilities of simple people. She told him her plan and then she ran.

The Antalusian Leader did not seem bothered, not in the slightest, and with a wave of his hand there were instantly several guards upon her, holding both her arms quite tightly. But the purpose had been served. Because at the same moment she ran, so did Kit and he ran towards the telepathic inhibitor and quickly smashed it with the bracelet around his wrist. The Antalusian Leader had opened his mouth in a sneer towards Clara but spun when he heard the shattered glass. For a moment everything was still and then he spun in a roar, slapping the Doctor's companion hard across the face. She could already tell there'd be bruises in the morning, in fact, she was now semi-afraid that he might even kill her but at least, now, everyone on the planet was safe, so this was a small price to pay. And if everyone on the planet was safe then that meant the Doctor was safe, and the TARDIS would work again and that might just mean-

Her train of thought broke off as the familiar sounds of the TARDIS materialising filled the room. Everyone froze. Clara nearly cried.  
"What is that?!" Kit called to her from his captive station across the room.  
"That's help," Clara said back and couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as the TARDIS door opened and the Doctor stepped out, hands in pockets and with a very menacing look on her face. Clara was used to that look, but not on that face. She'd seen his eleventh and twelfth incarnations get that look but somehow, on this new face, that look was much more deadly.

"Right," The Doctor said, searching out the Antalusian Leader and then making eye contact, "you have something that I want back. You okay, Clara?" she asked not taking his eyes off the Antalusian Leader and her peripheral vision on the rest of them.  
"Yeah, you know," Clara said back, not quite able to keep the grin out of her voice. The edges of the Doctor's lips quirked a little too but her expression remained stoney.  
"You have one chance. Give her back to me and leave Jacowitz in peace."  
"Doctor, they've got slaves," Clara called out.  
"Right, give her back to me, leave Jacowitz in peace, and free your slaves and I'll let you go. It's a good offer, you should take it."

The Antalusian Leader was still for a moment and then he began his belly laugh again. "We have heard of your arrogance, Doctor. There is nothing that you can do to stop us, we know of your abhorrence of violence, we know-"  
"I'm not sure where you're getting your information from," the Doctor said, "but don't ever mistake an abhorrence for violence with peaceful. But you're right. There's nothing I can do to you. I've done my research too, you're a very impressive lot, doesn't mean you can't be stopped." The Antalusian Leader laughed and the Doctor sighed and then opened up the door to the TARDIS.

Ariella stepped out. She was wearing some sort of weird headdress that had clearly been designed by a particular Time Lord, which looked rather impressive and attached to a device that Clara knew had once been inside a Cyberman's arm. Ariella exchanged glances with the Doctor, who nodded, and then she closed her eyes and the next thing, every single one of the Antalusians were unconscious on the floor.  
Kit gaped, "Are they dead?"  
Clara leaned over them, "No, sleeping. What happened?"  
"Time for explaining later," the Doctor said bounding over to the ships controls, a very proud look on her face. Clara picked her way across the room and stood near the Doctor. The Doctor's hand sort of hovered for a moment and then she turned back.  
"Clara, don't you ever do that again."  
Clara opened her mouth and left it hanging there, before she realised she looked a bit like a fish. She supposed, silently that she should have expected that sort of reaction, but she didn't really fancy being yelled at right at the moment. She was about to open her mouth to say so but all speech was muffled when she found herself pressed into one of the most phenomenal hugs that have ever come round and she couldn't quite help burying her face in the Doctor's shoulder. A few minutes later, it felt like everything had just gone back to normal, all that scary stormy Doctorness that freaked her out sometimes was gone and the Doctor was back to her smiley self.  
"Basically," she said, setting some controls, "I build that… thing, which will obviously be needing a snazzy name, to enhance Ariella's telepathy and tap into a particular wavelength and-" she seemed to notice Kit for the first time as she rounded about to flip some more switches. "Hello, sorry, Clara, who's your new boyfriend?"  
"This is Kit, he's been a slave here since-" She didn't get to finish her sentence because the Doctor had pressed a button and the whole ship started to shake. There were several loud explosions and then everyone ducked for cover.

The Doctor was the first one up again,  
"No no no no no! They were isomorphic controls! An unfamiliar finger touches it and the whole thing goes kablewy!"  
"Technical term? Kablewy?"  
"Very!" she flipped some more switches, "there's… I can't do anything, we're being pulled towards the largest heat source, which is of course the pink sun. Sort of a self destruct. We have about five minutes."  
Kit took off running down the hall. Clara assumed he was going back to where the rest of the slaves were being held. She looked at her wrist,  
"They've all got teleport bracelets on, it's sort of like a prison thing. Like a, um, force field! But it does both, can you fix the teleports?"  
The Doctor grinned, "Oh, just watch me!" she said and started pulling out all kinds of wires and tubes and lots of things Clara just didn't recognise. Neither Ariella or Clara could do much to help and moved to the window of the ship to keep an eye on the sun and their approach while the Doctor worked. It took all of two minutes and when she was done, the sun was looming so large and pink that it almost filled the whole frontal shield and both Ariella and Clara were feeling pretty damned nervous.

"Clara," The Doctor said after a moment, and Clara and Ariella turned back to face her, "you know what to do if something happens to me, right? You remember."  
Clara hesitated before answering. "Yes, I remember."  
"Okay," The Doctor smiled, "Good. Then, I'm sending them all to Jacowitz, hospital wing, we'll go check on them, I promise."  
"Doctor," Clara said a bit warily and Ariella took a step forward.  
"Doctor, what are you going to do?" she asked, and the Doctor just kept her eyes trained on the teleporting device and then flipped a switch. The whole table shook and a blue light started from the core of the device and worked its way out blindingly. Ariella and Clara were both thrown backwards and, once they'd both recovered from having the wind knocked out of them, they both looked towards the Doctor, who was now lying in a crumpled lump on the floor.

Clara gasped loudly, and Ariella scrambled over to The Doctor, quickly checking her pulses.  
"She's alive!" she said, the relief evident in her voice, "Only one of her hearts is working though."  
"But," Clara felt a bit paralysed.  
"Clara," Ariella said, "Come on, help me get her to the TARDIS, we've got to get out of here. Now."  
Clara looked out the window and realised just how right Ariella was. They had mere moments before they would be too close to the sun. They each grabbed onto the Doctor and pulled her into the TARDIS. The door slammed shut and for a moment, Clara could swear she felt the TARDIS wonder what on earth she had done to the Doctor.  
"It wasn't my fault.." she found herself whispering to the ship as she moved towards the console to activate Emergency Protocol One.


	8. The Maitland House

After a few eventful events over the years, the Doctor knew he needed to teach his companions how to get the TARDIS home if they needed to. The programme had always been there, of course, and he'd activated it one time but it wasn't something that they'd ever known themselves. After his regeneration into his twelfth incarnation, he'd shown Clara what to do in case of emergency, which buttons to press and which lever to crank. Clara listened and demonstrated when he asked her to do it for him but her heart wasn't really in it, as she always figured that if he couldn't be driving the TARDIS then she wouldn't really be either.

At that precise moment, Clara was very glad that I'd paid attention. Up popped The Doctor in a holographic image of her last reincarnation. She glanced sideways at the Doctor's current form, blonde hair brushed over her face, head resting on Ariella's lap. The old, holographic Doctor began speaking to her as the time rotor began to whir. She let out a soft sigh, shaking her head.  
"Crazy things like this always seem to happen when he-she's change form.." she said softly, moving back to the pair and crouching down beside the Doctor. She was breathing normally, and her one heartbeat was steady but that didn't stop Clara worrying about the lack of the second. She wondered if Time Lords could survive with one heart, or whether there would be another regeneration when she'd barely gotten used to this one.

The TARDIS seemed to understand the urgency of the matter and burgled through the Time Vortex faster than she ever had before. It was an exceedingly bumpy ride, and Clara couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not. At that moment, she had two thoughts: keep the Doctor safe, and land somewhere quickly, and the two were hardly mutually exclusive. And then suddenly the whole TARDIS tipped and felt very much like it had just crashed into something. Everything in the console room shifted, the three passengers were thrown, and then it was still.

Ariella picked herself up, and looked at Clara with wide eyes,  
"Where are we?" she asked, and Clara bit her lip.  
"Home."  
"Home?" she asked, "As in, Earth?"  
"I assume so.." Clara rose from her position on the floor and moved to the door, pulling it open. She looked at a very familiar house. One she'd left a while ago. The Maitland house stood exactly how she'd left it, though something was off, something she couldn't place her finger on. Regardless, Clara moved to the front door and knocked gently.

"What are you doing here?" Angie frowned as she looked over Clara's form.  
"I.."  
"I thought you and the Doctor had gone to Trenza-something.."  
A frown washed over Clara's face. Trenzalore? Oh god, she'd scrambled the time line. Still, that could be sorted later, there were more pressing matters at hand.  
"What's the date?"  
"May 18th.."  
"What year?"  
"2013... Clara, what's going on?"  
"We had a bit of an emergency.. Wait here.. Keep the door open."  
Hastily, Clara moved back into the TARDIS, and knelt down by the Doctor. She looped an arm around her and indicated to Ariella to do the same on the other side. Together, they began to carry the Doctor into the house, laying her unconscious form down on the sofa.

"What happened? Who's that?" Angie fired questions off at Clara within minutes and Clara sighed softly.  
"Right. First, this is Ariella. She's queen of an alien planet.."  
"Queen? Wow. Pleased to meet you, your highness..." Angie made a move that resembled a curtsy and Ariella gave a shy wave.  
"Second, this is the Doctor"  
"No it's not"  
"Yes. It is."  
"But.. What?"  
"It's.. Complicated.. But when he gets hurt.. Like badly hurt.. He sort of.. Changes"  
"This is a big change. You know he is a she now?"  
"We're all aware of that" Clara rolled her eyes. "Anyway, things happened and.. Now I need time to think.."  
"Right.. I'll.. Get a cold flannel or.. Something.. That's what mum would have done.."

Angie moved into the kitchen, pulling a few things out of the medicine cupboard before grabbing a flannel from the clean washing basket, soaking it in cold water and wringing it out before placing it on the Doctor's forehead. She studied her new face for a while, frowning slightly at the idea that this was the same being she'd seen hours earlier and convinced to play Blind Man's Bluff so she could sneak off to the cinema. Shaking her head, she moved into the kitchen and began to make tea, something she wouldn't normally do but stressing Clara out further wasn't something she wanted to do.

"Oh god, what do we do..?" Clara rose from where she'd sat and headed into the kitchen to help Angie. Ariella followed, at loss as to what to do about the whole situation. She'd barely even thought about what was happening on her own planet, that would come later once the Doctor was fixed. If the Doctor could be fixed.  
"I just.. I know nothing about Time Lords.. Can we give them human medicine?" she questioned, mostly to herself. "I know she can't have some things but.. Ugh. What? Can I do? Tea helped.. Before. But this isn't a regeneration, this isn't meant to happen. I don't know what to do about this..."  
"Blimey, Clara, don't you ever shut up?"  
All three heads spun around, back towards the Doctor who was still lying on the couch, but now her eyes were open, looking towards the kitchen door.  
"Doctor!" Ariella cried and nearly flung herself on the side of the couch in a very good impersonation of Florence Nightingale.  
"Hello," the Doctor grinned. Clara went round to the end of the couch, the Doctor's eyes following her, a smirk brushing over her face.  
"Well I see you paid attention to the Emergency Protocol One tutorial," she spoke to Clara in a voice far too cheery for the fact that she'd just been unconscious for the greater part of an hour. Then again, Clara thought, she was the Doctor, and she tended to do that. A grin worked it's way onto Clara's face, relief brushing over her.  
"I did... how are you? Your heart wasn't working, is it better now?" she asked, almost reaching forward and resting her hand on the Doctor's chest to see but decided against it.  
"Oh, fine, you know, just a bit sore." she responded, and then the Doctor's ability to talk about everything and nothing at the same time kicked in. She remarked on Angie's hairstyle, apologised to Ariella for having to meet the teenager, which received an "oi!" from both Angie and Clara at the same time, and her heart was back to normal. It occurred to Clara briefly that she could have cried from relief. But she didn't.

Angie came back with more tea and passed it round to everyone. Ariella seemed to have gotten a bit more comfortable and the Doctor was happily sipping her tea while Ariella recounted, upon request, the last Sontaran invasion. For about ten minutes it looked like all the drama was over for the day.

"Clara..." the Doctor said softly and Clara looked at her, all smiles, until she caught the expression on her face. "Clara, what did you give me, when I was out, you gave me some sort of medicine or something, what was it?"  
"Nothing so far as I know." she responded as she began to wracked her brain, Ariella gave her a concerned look, again. Clara shook her head, "No, nothing."  
"Oh, yeah, well that was me," Angie said seemingly just catching wise to the conversation. The others whipped their heads round to her. "Well it was just a bit of children's stuff, she said she was sore and we had a bit left..." The trio continued to stare. "All right I'll go and get it!" Angie groaned and got up to go back to the kitchen. By the time she got back, the Doctor was practically purple and had already activated her respiratory bypass. "My god! What's happened to her!?" Angie cried holding up the bottle, "it's just Acetylsalicylic Acid!"

The Doctor's eyes got very wide and Ariella and Clara gaped at Angie  
"Aspirin?!" they said, simultaneously and Angie nodded.  
"Angie, he's allergic to aspirin!" Clara finished, her eyes widening as she stared at the Doctor, at loss as to what to do. Angie's hands flew to her mouth and Clara could tell how apologetic she was. She knew deep down that she shouldn't have been cross as Angie had just been trying to help but she could hardly help it. This whole thing was really bending her nerves and her stomach churned with worry. In fact, thinking about it, she was starting to feel nauseous. But the Doctor launched herself off the couch and grabbed the bottle from Angie at a full pounce and examined the label before she made a noise that sounded like she was being strangled. Angie grabbed a piece of paper from the pad by the phone and handed it, along with the phone pen, to the Doctor. Clara silently gave her props for understanding what it was that the Doctor needed.

"Could we use an epi pen?" Angie asked after a few seconds.  
"Have we got an epi pen?" Clara asked, confused, not thinking it would do much good anyway.  
"Hospital?!" Angie said once she realised they did not have an epi pen.  
"Angie!" Clara rolled her eyes and Angie was quiet after that. The Doctor scribbled on the paper holding it out for her friends to read. "Potassium, sugar, Vitamin C, zinc… we're supposed to find these things?" the Doctor nodded vigorously. "Angie! Have we got bananas?" she shook her head. Clara gaped, even the Doctor was still, she grabbed the paper back, flipped it over and wrote in large letters; 'NO?!'  
"Well, we've nothing in!"

Ariella jumped up from the sofa and ran, out the door, slamming it behind her. Clara hardly noticed.  
"Okay, orange juice then?" Angie ran into the kitchen and came back with an almost full container, which the Doctor hastily drank, and then actually looked a bit better. Clara checked the list, "Have we got zinc?" she had already brought in the sugar.  
"Zinc?! Why would we have zinc?"  
"For colds and stuff, you know, it's meant to make you better!" Angie looked a little helpless, and Clara turned back to the Doctor, "What has zinc?!"

The Doctor seemed to be able to push a bit of air through her throat, at last, and managed some words. "It's in a lot of metal things, I don't know, oysters!" Clara looked at Angie, she shook her head, "They use it too coat pills in the future, Clara, you know what I'm talking about!"  
"Pills," Clara said, wracking her brain, wondering if they had any of that stuff in the TARDIS, probably, she wondered- "And food supplement pills?"  
The Doctor nodded, and Clara fished in her pockets. "Like desert pellets?!" she asked extracting the large amount of them that she'd pilfered from the Antalusian ship. Apparently, yes, because the Doctor grabbed them and downed ten in eight seconds.

This time when she spoke it was a little more clearly, "Sugar, and potassium, where's my coat?" Clara started towards the door. As far as she knew the Doctor's coat was in the TARDIS, she hadn't been wearing it before and she could see it in her mind's eye thrown over the columns, but before she even had a chance to open the door, Ariella bust in, carrying a huge box of banana donuts.  
"Potassium and sugar!" she said, breathlessly, having obviously run. The Doctor waved her over and grabbed a donut, and shoved it into her mouth. By the time she'd finished her third, she was quite back to normal, but no one begrudged her a fourth.

Then, she, quite calmly, picked up her tea cup and washed the contents down the kitchen sink, before grabbing the children's aspirin bottle and tossing it in the bin. When she came back from the kitchen, she smiled, gently rocking on the balls of her feet and said,  
"Right then, who wants tea?"


	9. The End

The trio stayed on Earth for two days, giving the Doctor time to recover from her regeneration, and the events following. It wasn't an issue really. The TARDIS could take them back to exactly where they needed to be, back to Jacowitz minutes after the ship exploded. After two days, however, the Doctor became noticeably angsty, and Clara thought it might be time to get back into the TARDIS.

Clara pulled the front door closed behind her and made her way towards the Blue Box that the Doctor had left parked on the pavement. Ariella was staring at the sky, well, the sun to be exact, and Clara paused in front of her, about to ask if she was going in, but she spoke first.  
"It's mine, you know. That's my star, the one I was born with and the one I will die with." Clara raised and eyebrow and Ariella explained "Each Nyklus was born at the same time as a star.. It lives as long as they do and they die together. No one knows why, or how, but the lives of my people are eternally tied in with the stars of the universe... There are only two.. Two stars that aren't tied into the lives of a member of my race, and yet those two stars keep my planet alive.." she let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. Clara continued to stare for a moment. It seemed unreal to think that Ariella's species lives as long as stars. It seemed like such an expansive lifetime, she couldn't even fathom it.

"Right then.." The Doctor said with a grin once her companions had joined her in the TARDIS. "Shall we go somewhere exciting? Have I taken you to Bellux 5 yet?"  
"I have to leave," Ariella said softly  
"Really? Why?" The Doctor frowned.  
"I need," she sighed and then started over, "Jacowitz needs me."  
The Doctor sighed softly, "But we can drop you off right when we got you."  
"I know that. I really do know that, but it's just... the last time I travelled with you, I was so young. I knew I had responsibilities, but I couldn't quite fathom what that really meant. Now it's so different. Now, I can feel my people inside my head, I can speak to them, they speak to me. I'm connected with them and the planet. I know how they need me, and I need them." She wrinkled her nose and then reached her hand out and touched The Doctor's temple and Clara watched as they proceeded to have a conversation, apparent only as their expressions changed and ended when Ariella laughed. Clara felt a bit left out, actually. Nodding in understanding, the Doctor pulled back and put the coordinates for Jacowitz into the console. A moment later, Clara nearly flew across the console room as the TARDIS jerked its way to Ariella's home planet.

The TARDIS doors opened to chaos. The sight before them was Ariella's throne room, full of masses of people; her advisors and the hundreds of slaves that had been teleported from the Antalusian ship, something Clara only realised because they were wearing the bracelet teleporters. The TARDIS had landed moments after they had originally left, an idea made clear by the unconscious Antalusians in a pile on the floor, who were already cuffed and being hauled into custody by rhino headed aliens that the Doctor explained to Clara were a race of aliens used as a mercenary police force and known by the name Judoon.

Ariella sprang into action immediately with an efficiently that left both Clara and the Doctor impressed. It wasn't like the Doctor hadn't seen Ariella in action before, she had helped out with a couple of Sontaran invasions in the past, but most of the time she was so calm and graceful that you'd forget how impressive she can be. Ariella told her advisors to get the refugees to the hospital wing as they hadn't been treated properly, and to get them all a square meal.

Before, when Clara had been with them, they'd been in a coma-like sleep state but now they were definitely awake and beginning to panic, but they were all corralled away to the hospital wing and Ariella began to make arrangements to have them taken to a planet called Samu where they could be educated and then taken into functioning society. It was all so quick that Clara hardly had a chance to register much of anything and then Kit was standing in front of her.  
"Clara!" he said, "It worked, thank you, everyone's free and everyone's safe. I don't know how you did it!"  
Clara smiled, genuinely happy to see him. "I didn't do anything, not really," she said softly, and then gestured vaguely, "It was mostly her."  
"Oh, I don't know about that, couldn't have done it without you," the Doctor said, shoving her hands in her pockets and clicked her tongue lightly.  
"Yeah, she probably could of," Clara said to Kit, shaking her head.  
"Nah, she's just being modest," the Doctor smirked, her eyes flicking between Kit and Clara momentarily. Clara glared slightly.  
"I'm not,"  
Then the Doctor opened her mouth to say something else, probably a cheeky remark repudiating what Clara had just said, but Kit broke in.  
"Is this your copulation partner then?" he asked Clara and her mouth dropped. The Doctor frowned and she and Clara were both silent for a moment until Ariella started laughing from across the room. In fact, she was laughing so hard that the Doctor thought she was going to hurt herself. Kit looked at Clara curiously, and Clara found she could not turn her head to look at the Doctor, but was sure she was just as horrified.  
"Um, no, Kit, she's just... we're just mates, friends, we travel together, but it's not like that." Clara stuttered, realising that was probably one of her least eloquent sentences ever. It was at this point that she became aware that the Doctor was laughing and Ariella was shooting her very amused looks from across the room. Kit looked a bit confused, but said nothing. Instead he just thanked Clara again and then gave her a hug before he went on his way with the rest of his people. He'd go, get a meal and be looked at by Ariella's medical team before he'd be educated and get to start all over again. Clara grinned as she watched him leave. She knew he'd be brilliant.

Once everyone was cleared out of the throne room Ariella, who was still giggling, came back over and jabbed Clara lightly in the arm with her elbow and laughed again. Clara shook her head,  
"Get out of my head!" she smirked, though there was no trace of offence in her voice at all. Ariella smiled and Clara smiled back before shaking her head again and linking arms with the Queen, allowing herself to be lead in to tea, the Doctor trailing behind. It turned out that Clara loved Jacowitzian food. They had little crustless sandwiches, and brilliant fairy cakes, and banana donuts, and they made, what turned out to be, the best soup Clara had ever tasted, as well as a lovely juice made from Jacowitzian fruit called Horalb. It was a gorgeous tea, overall, and the trio ate slowly because once they were finished, the Doctor and Clara knew that it would be time for them to take off in the TARDIS and for Ariella to go back to her job but even the three of them couldn't prolong it forever and eventually the table was cleared and it was time to go.

Hugs were exchanged, and promises were made that they would see each other soon (but those promises are always made and always broken). Then the Doctor took Clara's hand and the duo went back into the TARDIS.

"Clara Oswald and pretty boys," the Doctor laughed softly as the TARDIS doors closed, leaning against them for the moment. Clara rolled her eyes, shaking her head.  
"Don't even start.. I met River Song, remember.." she raised an eyebrow and the Doctor looked guilty for a moment. She'd not thought about River in a while. A long while. She wondered, briefly, what Ms Song would say if she could see her 'husband' now, but she supposed it didn't matter. She shook her head and grinned at Clara before moving towards the TARDIS console and gently stroking a hand over the controls.  
"Do you two need a moment?" Clara asked after a minute or so, leaning against the railing, her fingers gripping the metal bar. The Doctor rolled her eyes and shook her head, before pulling a lever. The TARDIS lurched, and spun into the Vortex, sending them into their next adventure.


End file.
